Katherine McConachie serves as Senior Director for the Arizona State University Interplanetary Initiative, where she leads operational strategy and partnerships for a space education portfolio serving learners of all ages and pathways. As a member of the senior leadership team, Katherine steers organizational transformation while building scalable systems that connect space exploration with educational excellence.
Katherine brings over a decade of experience building and scaling mission-driven organizations at the intersection of technology, education, and community impact. At ASU, she has led significant program expansion while developing comprehensive operational infrastructure and managing strategic partnerships with organizations including NASA, Blue Origin, and other industry leaders.
Her work includes serving as Principal Investigator for federal grants supporting workforce development and K-12 STEM education initiatives. Katherine has extensive experience in team leadership, budget management, and implementing systems that support both growth and high quality outcomes.
Prior to joining ASU, Katherine was Assistant Director at the MIT Media Lab's Digital Learning and Collaboration Studio, where she helped build innovative educational programs and technologies. Her experience includes co-founding international community networks of public libraries, product management for educational platforms, and securing philanthropic funding to support strategic initiatives.
Katherine's leadership approach focuses on creating innovative systems that unlock potential and drive meaningful outcomes across STEM education and workforce development.
Katherine holds an MBA from Quantic School of Business and Technology, an Ed.M. in Technology, Innovation & Education from Harvard University Graduate School of Education, and a B.A. in Computational & Applied Mathematics from Rice University. She serves on the Orbital Reef University Advisory Council and has been recognized with the ASU President's Award for Innovation for her contributions to scaling undergraduate research opportunity programs.